CHAPTER XXIII.
And after a while he got up from his knees and set his teeth on his sobbing and threw his head back and squared his shoulders and notched his belt and faced the three ancient men.
"Well," he said, "that's that." He went over and knelt and kissed the Khan's hand.
"You'll be seeing her soon, sir, you'll be telling her...

everything..." "Yes, son, I'll tell her." Then he patted the Sanang on the shoulder, and "Thanks!" said he, simply, and he took Li Po's hand in both his, and they looked at each other for a moment and no words came to either.
"Well," he says at length, "I'll be hitting the road then.

I'll not say good-by to any of you.

I'll be seeing you all pretty soon again.
There's a war on between Venice and the Genoese, and where that's hottest you'll find me, and the quicker my end, the better I'll be pleased.

But it would be like my luck," he said bitterly, "not to be killed, but to be taken prisoner and to end my life in some lousy jail.
Oh, well, we'll hope for the best." He laughed.